Dreamscape (31 page)

Giving it every
bit of effort I have, I finally catch up to Maybell. Zed still manages to look
casual, but he’s got a slight tension in his shoulders.

He glances at
us. “Hurry. We are nearly out of time.”

Panic courses
through me, but the oddest thing happens. Seth said I’d be able to feel the
portal and I do. There’s an electric hum in the air that propels me forward.
Pretty soon, I’m in front of all of them, leading. I grin when I reach the
light post and curl my fingers around it.

I only have
a second to take in the scene behind me. Shivers slice over me as the portal
pulls me in. Erobos by the thousands race after us, or maybe it’s the blond
girl hurtling forward like a rocket, which I’m guessing is Olivia. Where she
came from is anyone’s guess. Daegan’s in the lead of his massive army. His icy
gaze locks with mine, and I’m trapped for a moment. Then the world
disintegrates as the team scrambles to make it on time.

As usual, the
desolate world has not changed. Having no desire to delay my departure from
this hellish place, I take to the sky once again. This time I choose the
subtler form of a sparrow. With any luck, the dreamer will not notice me.

My wings thrust
me into the sky as my heart beats a staccato rhythm. First, I scan the nearby
area. The man still sits, dangling his legs over the smoldering pit of lava
below him. His gaze is fixed, but his mouth moves slightly. From this height, I
cannot distinguish his words and he is not speaking out loud.

I make a quick
perimeter sweep, but as usual, he is completely alone. If he has noticed me, he
makes no move to acknowledge my presence. I circle again, trying to get closer
without disturbing him.

For a brief
moment, I consider contacting him, yet the oddity of this world leaves me
bereft of a real desire to know more about this man. Amelia is right. I have no
reason to destroy the world, yet each moment I spend here is a moment too long.
I need to, at the very least, remove the portal. Until I figure out what is
going on, bringing my team here is not wise. Unfortunately, I need Ian or Zed
for a true separation, to blow both sides of a portal. Even in the Dreamscape,
there are worlds we do not traverse.

I haven’t heard
from my brother Peter in too many years to count. As far as I know, he has
stayed in contact with Zed, but he is still angry with me for getting myself
locked up.

He warned me
about Rhea, but I did not listen when he told me of her interaction with
Deagan. What would he think of Amelia? I have not allowed myself a companion
for more than five thousand years. Would that be long enough punishment in his
eyes?

The Erobos have
almost accomplished their task too many times. Each of my remaining brothers
and I have nearly succumbed to temptation, yet the thing they used to trap me
is the very thing that keeps me safe from their ever-growing influence.

Once in my
realm, I can shed the evil that shadows me in the Dreamscape. Their presence
has become more prominent over the last few years. It spreads from world to
world like a virus. Where once was sweet innocence, exists underworlds that
would make a hardened criminal cringe. They start at the periphery and circle
until they have pinned a target into a narrow cocoon of darkness. Once they
have turned a mind, it is hard to get that person back. Finding the dreamer’s
true self in such a bog of filth can take years, even decades. Some pass from
the mortal realm before we can ever recover them. Others are not worth
recovering. It is a shame, but a truth to acknowledge.

This dreamer’s
focus unnerves me. How I never noticed his unwavering nature when here before
is beyond me, especially when Amelia detected it immediately.

When I circle
again, the man looks straight at me. What I see sends me reeling inside. A
Sibylline in my worlds? Without my knowledge? How is this possible?

His eyes no
longer contain an ounce of color. Pure black orbs pierce straight to my core.

I will not
spend another second here. A sharp gust of wind throws me off-balance, and I
plummet toward the ground, only recovering enough to soften my landing. I morph
immediately, rolling to my side before I jump to my feet.

The area
remains void of life, except for the man atop the mountain’s crest.

Trepidation
floods into me, and I hasten for the portal. This world should be closed as
soon as possible. I should have brought supplies with me. Once again I am
reminded of how lax I have grown in my duties.

My spine
stiffens straight. No more. Whatever this man has planned does not matter. He
will not succeed. He shall be cut off from all Oneiroi presence. If darkness is
what he desires, he shall have it.

Something
sinister is happening here. Something designed for destruction.

Without
hesitation I race for the portal and am through to the next world. The other
portals blur together as I hurry to my team. Now, more than ever before, I need
them on this.

Once inside my
realm, I relax a fraction, but I detest the time it takes the elevator to
arrive on the top floor. A high-pitched ding tracks my upward progress, and by
the time I reach the top floor I am ready to smash the bell above the dial. One
of these days, I shall remodel all of my office, but I’ve let nostalgia hamper
my judgment.

When the doors
finally open, I am greeted by raucous laughter. Not one person turns to greet
me. They are all huddled around two figures in the center of the giant room.
Thick mahogany desks have been pushed to the perimeter while a sea of people
surrounds the couple: Amelia and Ian.

A growl races
up my throat before I can stop it.

No one notices,
or they are pretending not to notice, which inches my anger near boiling.

No sound exists
in the room, save Amelia’s lovely voice.

“Then he jumped
out the window, carrying me. Daegan sure looked pissed.”

Ian laughs. “It
didn’t help that you flipped him off on the way down. I’m beginning to think
you had a questionable upbringing.”

“Look who’s
talking, Mr. Never-Says-Anything-Helpful.” She cocks her head and quirks a
brow. “You could have told me the Erobos were everywhere instead of trying to
run the show.”

“You wouldn’t
have listened if I had. You don’t trust me.”

“Damned right!”

I step in
between the two, pushing Ian toward Maybell in the process. I don’t care who is
in the room. Amelia is safe, and I make no pretense as I pull her into my arms.

She glances up
at me, eyes alive with laughter. “Couldn’t wait to see me, huh?”

I bend near her
ear, inhaling her sultry scent. “If I could strap you to my side, I would.”

Her chest
rumbles with her laugh. She whispers, “Control freak.” Her smile broadens until
our gazes touch. She takes a step back, scanning my face, and clasps my arm.
“What’s wrong?”

Since this
concerns our whole team, I get right to it. “I’m afraid we have a problem.”

For the first
time I notice Zed hovering near the windows, as usual. Olivia is by his side,
her hand firmly secured in his. She is yet to be interrogated, but I do not
sense any darkness within her. As I understand it, she barely escaped the
crumbling world with the others. Normally when a dreamer awakes, his world is
left intact; however, when they are startled awake from a death in a dream, it
shatters the world. I am grateful to have my team here safe, and we have Amelia
and Ian to thank for it.

This should be
a time for celebrating, yet all I can think about is that man and the desolate
world that must be contained.

Zed lets go
of Olivia and steps closer. Ian joins him. Once my brothers are close, I say,
“I am afraid our work is not done for the day.”

The look on
Seth’s face sets my heart racing. There’s something terribly wrong for him to
be here like this, acting like his mother just died.

I thought we’d
get to celebrate for a while. After all, we not only rescued Olivia, we stopped
the Erobos’ attempt to control Nabeel, at least I hope we did. No one will
really tell me if he is okay, and I’m a little miffed about it.

Since we
arrived at headquarters, Zed hasn’t taken his eyes off Olivia. They’ve stolen a
few kisses when they thought no one else was looking, but I couldn’t stop
myself from staring. For a man who is so obviously in love, Zed’s actions don’t
make much sense. Why hasn’t he converted her, or whatever it is these Oneiroi
do? I understand it’s a big decision, but at some point, he better make it. I
wasn’t the only one Daegan had his sights on.

Everybody keeps
changing the subject when I bring it up, as if I can’t handle hearing the
truth. I’m tougher than they think I am. Besides, we can still help Nabeel if
we need to. It isn’t as though he’s a lost cause, not like that other guy Seth
visited tonight.

Maybell told me
that Seth had to close a world tonight. She said the man was Seth’s friend and
that he used to be a member of the team that turned. Such a sad day this has
become. For not the first time, I wonder how many bright days these people get.

They are
outnumbered on an epic scale, but still they press on. They act as though
failure is just part of the job, but how much failure can a person take before
they give up? It still floors me to think all these people are here to protect
Earth. Considering they’ve lost their own worlds to the Erobos makes the thought
even more astounding. They work nonstop to save a race that would probably lock
them up in some science lab for study, or even dissection, if ever given the
opportunity.

I’d like to
think I’d be here with them if I’d lost my world, but I don’t know if I’m that
selfless. Maybell steps closer to me and clasps my hand. Giving a gentle
squeeze, she keeps her eyes trained on Seth.

She’s the first
real friend I’ve ever had, and I’ve only just met her…not to mention she’s an
alien. I don’t really know what that says about me. It would be comical if the
situation wasn’t this bleak.

Seth finally
decides to tell us what our new job will be. “When I was showing Amelia around
earlier, she brought my attention to something unusual about Turner’s Corner.”

Ian’s shoulder’s
slump. “You had me going there for a minute. I thought you were going to tell
us the Erobos had found a way through the Dreamscape.”

Seth’s face
stays calm. He doesn’t even berate his brother for interrupting him. Instead he
says, “You’re not far off, Ian.”

Zed shifts out
of Olivia’s hold completely, glancing back at her with softened eyes, before he
shifts his focus completely. “What have you found?”

“We’ve all
overlooked the man sitting at the top of that volcano, day after day, thinking
him addled. He looked at me today.”

The silence of
the moment presses in on me as we wait for Seth to continue.

“He is
Sibylline.”

All eyes turn
to me, as if I did something to cause this…Sibylline guy to ruin their world. I
glance at Seth, whose expression is like me reading Arabic. “What?” I ask.
“What does that even mean? He can read minds?”

“He is like
you, Amelia,” whispers Maybell, as if she’s saving her voice for something
important.

“And?” I ask
when she doesn’t continue.

Surprisingly,
Ian is the first to speak. “Sibyllines can only be inside the Dreamscape if
called here. None of us has done so with this man.”

It doesn’t take
me long to make the connection, but I need to know I’m right. “So he’s Erobos?”

“He is human,”
says Seth. “But Erobos are controlling him. He has lost all humanity. Only
darkness shows through his soul lights.”

“Soul lights?”

Seth stares at
me. “Eyes.”

“Is he, like,
possessed or something?”

“Yes…by the
Eros, the beings that created the Erobos.”

I tilt my head
back, my mind whirring and my heart stuttering. Maybell slides an arm around my
shoulders. “It will be okay, Amelia. Don’t worry.”